Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

Key definition

Bribery definition

What does Bribery mean? Bribery describes the offering, promising, giving, requesting, agreeing to receive or accepting a financial or other advantage to induce or reward the improper performance of a function or to influence a person in a position of trust. In England & Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, bribery is principally governed by the Bribery Act 2010, which consolidated and reformed the law. It creates offences of active and passive bribery (sections 1–2), bribery of a foreign public official (section 6), and the corporate offence of failure to prevent bribery by associated persons (section 7), with a statutory defence of having adequate procedures....

Embedding anti-bribery and corruption compliance: top-level commitment, internal/external communications, whistleblowing, and risk-based staff training and awareness

Published by a LexisNexis Practice Compliance expert

Practice notes

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) guidance for commercial organisations on preventing bribery is centred on six principles. These are not prescriptive; they are intended to be flexible and focused on outcomes. Bribery prevention procedures should be proportionate to the level of risk the organisation faces. Accordingly, the measures adopted to deliver an organisation’s anti-bribery policies ought to be designed to:

mitigate identified risks, and
prevent deliberate unethical conduct by associated persons

Communicating policies and procedures to staff at every level, and providing training on their practical use, is a vital element. This is reinforced by MoJ principle 5 on Communication (including training). This Practice Note outlines ways to train staff and raise awareness of anti-bribery and corruption issues.

Top-level commitment

A consistent theme in the MoJ guidance is the importance of commitment from the top. Effective leadership in preventing bribery will take different forms that are suitable for, and proportionate to, an organisation’s size, management structure and particular circumstances...

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Web page updated on 21/05/2026

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